Page 46 of One Week
Maeve leans in. “I thought you were staying away from that guy.”
“Well, I was, but now everything’s changed.”
“So what, are you going to fuck him?” Corrie says, asking the question on everyone’s mind.
Maeve and Kayla’s jaws drop to the floor.
I bite my bottom lip. “Well, I’m planning to go see him for a week, and we’ll see what happens.”
Corrie laughs out loud. “A revenge fuck,” she says a little too loudly. “I fucking love it!”
Kayla shakes her head. “It sounds crazy, Gabs. Do you even know this guy? He could be a serial killer.”
She sounds exactly like John. “I do. I do know him.”
“Does John know about this?” she asks.
“Yes, he doesn’t like it, but he has no say in the matter. I told him that he needs to let me do this, or I’m leaving him.”
Maeve is still wide-eyed. If she doesn’t blink soon, her eyes will shrivel up like raisins. “You gave him an ultimatum?”
I shrug. “I guess.” I know it sounds childish, and a little crazy.
“Well, he got to have some fun, why shouldn’t she?” Corrie points out. “I love it!”
Corrie is enjoying this a little too much.
Chapter Nineteen
“THIS SEEMS LIKE A REALLY BAD PLAN to me, Gabs,” Kayla says, determined to rain on my fucked-up parade. “These kind of arrangements never work out for the best.”
Maeve’s eyes are still bulging out of her head, and I’m not surprised. But I’m shocked by Kayla’s reaction. She’s a free-spirit, a believer in free love and all that. She doesn’t really believe in monogamy, and is always in casual and friends-with-benefits relationships. She doesn’t usually take sex too seriously.
“What’s the big deal?!” I ask. “It’s just sex. I’ll have some fun, and then when I come back, I won’t be so angry, and John and I can pick up the pieces.”
“But that’s not you,” Kayla points out. “It’s never just sex for you.”
“How do you know?” I scoff. “You don’t know me that well.”
“So this hottie’s going to screw the angry out of her,” Corrie says. “And then she’ll be able to stand John again, and not want to tear his balls out. And she’ll get to see Copenhagen, which is an amazing city. What’s the big deal?”
Kayla puffs out a breath and makes a ‘tsk’ sound.
“I think you’re a little jealous,” Corrie taunts.
Kayla rolls her eyes.
Maeve finally blinks.
And Corrie laughs.
* * *
When the one week is up, John asks me if I still want to do this, and I tell him yes. “I can’t believe you’re willing to destroy our marriage for a quick meaningless fuck,” he says.
“Says the man who’s had a five month affair,” I reply, and the conversation is over.
I still have Eli’s e-mail address in my contacts. My heart beats frantically against my ribcage as I type the few words that might change my life.
